The Halding Household
by sofiasavvy
Summary: Sango, did you see that man at the funeral?" she asked. Sango looked at her curiously. "Kagome, dear, there were many men at the funeral." "No, there was one...one I had never seen before. He had silver hair." Kagome said thoughtfully.
1. The Funeral

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

**Note: I set the time period in the 1930s, so I gave the characters English-sounding last names. Enjoy!**

**The Halding Household**

**Prologue**

In the Halding household, year 1934, an unfortunate event was taking place. An unfortunate event that, unfortunately, left many devasted. Mr. Halding was taking his last breaths on this earth. It was August the fifteenth, 5:42 in the evening when his only daughter unknowningly visited him for the last time. Mr. Halding had been sick for weeks now, and it wasn't a suprise when he fell fast asleep for the night, only to not wake up in the morning. Not being unexpected, his untimely death was not in the least comfortable for the many people he had known. You see, Mr. Halding had been a kind gentleman throughout his life and had managed to capture people's hearts in a moment. So, you see, it was a dreadful thing when he finally passed on. On the evening of his departure, his loving daughter sat by him, and looked into his eyes. She had Mr. Halding's kind and compassionate behavior, yet, at certain times, her mother's temper could be detected in her tone of voice, if not by any other means. She was a young woman, yet her eyes were old with pain. It was not the first time she had seen death, and even though she was looking straight into her father's eyes, and they were staring straight back at her, she could smell it. Death was pulling gently on her father, taking him with it little by little. She reached for his hand as if to keep him here a while longer, and she was shaken by how cold it was. It would not be long now, she realized. And with that, she leaned down and kissed Mr. Halding's forhead and whispered her goodnight. She left his room at 6:56 that night and at 7:37 in the morning, Mr. Halding was gone.

Now, his death is not a cause for celebration, but as we all know, an ending always leads to a new beginning and the ending of Mr. Halding's life defitnitely lead to a new beginning. That morning, in the Halding household, as young Miss Halding wept for her father, something she never expected was beginning.

**Chapter 1**

**The Funeral**

Everything was black. Kagome looked down at her black dress that reflected her mood. She looked around at the faces and knew all of them in an instant. Mr. and Mrs. Mill were holding each other's hands and the young Robbie Adams looked as solemn as never before. She sighed and looked at her father's casket, lavished in white roses. A single tear slid down her cheek as she thought of her father. She was suddenly aware that somebody was watching her. Someone she didn't recognize. Kagome watched him curiously, and he stared back at her, a compasionate look on his face.

"Miss Halding? I wanted to pay my respects. I'm so sorry," a voice broke Kagome's gaze on the mysterious man, as she turned to look at who was talking to her. It was Hojo Buren, a long life friend of the family. Kagome looked back to where the man had been, but he was no longer there. She thought this strange, but quickly dismissed it.

"Hojo, how many times must I ask you to call me Kagome?" she asked sweetly, though the sadness in her eyes did not disappear. Hojo smiled, and blushed as Kagome knew he would.

She excused herself and went to find the only person who could make her feel better. Winding down the stone path to the garden, Kagome knew exactly where to find her. When Kagome was younger, she had found a secret door on the side of the garden's wall which revealed a tiny vineyard filled with beautiful grape vines. Ever since then, it had become her secret garden. Kagome felt the wall for the knob, and once she found it, pushed it into the wall, and entered. There, sitting on a boulder, was Sango, her best friend. They had met one summer afternoon, when Sango's mother had dropped her off at the Halding household, temprarily. Sango's mother was Mr. Halding's sister and was going through a financially painful divorce. She had asked Mr. Halding if her children could stay at their house for a while. Only it wasn't only for a while; Sango's mother never returned, leaving her two children, Sango and Kohaku, to live at the Halding household permantly. Kagome and Sango were best friends in an instant, and had been ever since.

Kagome walked over to Sango and sat by her.

"Hey Miss Halding," she said.

"Hey Miss Ellwood," Kagome answered.

Kagome thought about the strange man she had seen at the funeral.

"Sango, did you see that man at the funeral?" she asked.

Sango looked at her curiously.

"Kagome, dear, there were_ many_ men at the funeral."

Kagome smiled and punched Sango gently on the shoulder.

"No, there was one...one that I had never seen before. He had long silver hair," Kagome said, thoughtfully. Sango furrowed her eyebrows, thinking.

"Silver hair? Are you sure you didn't imagine it?" She asked. Kagome shook her head.

"No, he was definitely there."

Sango shrugged and layed on her back. Kagome did the same.

"Hey, did you hear that Mrs. Holm called up her distant cousin or something to come up? Rumor has it he's going to help out here at the mansion, now that your father's passed. Handle costs and run the household, you know, all the things your dad did. At least, unless your mum remaries." Sango said.

Kagome sat up. Mrs. Holm was the head of the household; she told all the maids and the employees what to do. And when her mother had taken up staying in her room all day, she assumed the position of caring after Kagome.

"Her cousin? Well, I suppose that's a good idea. And I seriouly doubt that my mother will remarry..." Kagome replied.

"Yeah, he's supposed to arrive tomorrow; I hear he's a pain in the-" Kagome never got to hear where exactly this guy was a pain because at that moment she heard Mrs. Holm calling her.

"Miss Halding, you should come on out and say goodbye to the guests!"

"Ugh, what a bother." said Kagome laying back down.

"Yeah, funerals are never pretty."

And as Kagome walked back to the funeral, she caught sight of silver hair, but as quick as it was there, it was gone.


	2. The Drawing

**Sorry this was so late...With exams and homework, I've been pretty busy. How was everyone's spring break??**

**Chapter 2**

**The Drawing**

The sun was shining brightly through the window, as if beckoning Kagome. She sighed and turned back to her studies.

_Wie heiBt du?_

_Ich heiBe Kagome._

_Wo kommst du?_

_Ich kommt auf Engalnd._

She had to admit her German studies left much to be desired. She looked back at the window, at the wonderful field filled with strange and beautiful flowers. How she longed to be out there, instead of in this stuffy room, learning German. When would Mrs. Holm's cousin be arriving? Kagome wished he could arrive now, just to be rid of German for a while. Sango's words popped into her head.

_The guy's a pain in the-_

Well, maybe his arival could wait. No, she decided, she longed for something different; ever since she had moved here, all of her days had been planned down to the minute, and, to her dislike, not one of those minutes could be spent outside. Kagome figured that this change might be good for her. She might even be able to convince this new head of house to let her spend some time outside, doing things worth while, instead of her German studies. _Ugh._

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang, and the event Kagome had been looking forward to came. Kagome didn't realize, of course, that with this ring of the doorbell, her worst nightmare had arived.

"Miss Halding, hurry n' come meet the new head o' house!" yelled the Irish maid, Ms. Mollin. Kagome didn't have to be called twice. She rushed out of her room, only pausing to check if she looked decent in the mirror. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and her beautiful dress, light blue wasn't wrinkled too badly. After all, it was just an old man, she told herself, she didn't need to look good, just presentable. Nevertheless, she took a few seconds to pull a few stray hairs into her bun, and smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress. _There,_ she thought.

She descended the stairs two at a time, and jumped into the main hall. There stood Mrs. Holm, hugging a man in her chubby arms, hardly letting him breathe. She was crying,"Oh, my Lord! You look so well, and here I was worrying about your health! I missed you so much!"

The poor man seemed to be flailing his arms in an attempt to free himself from her grasp. Kagome, who thought she ought to do something for the poor guy, cleared her throat, rather loudly, until Mrs. Holm finally took notice of her and backed off the man.

What Kagome saw when Mrs. Holm moved away was not something she had expected. There stood the man from the funeral. Their eyes seemed to meet for only an instant, until Mrs. Holm interrupted and was saying something, but Kagome wasn't listening. She could only stare at those bright gold eyes, that seemed to melt hers. He seemed only a few years older than her, yet here he was ready to take his place as the head of the house.

"Miss Halding," he said taking her hand in his, and shaking it,"I'm Mr. Inuyasha Tallis, but to you, Miss, Mr. Tallis. Good to meet you. As you know, I'll be in charge of keeping everything up and running here, so that means that _you_ will now be studying French, Advanced Mathematics and Biology, English History, and you will attend Music lessons in addition to your current studies."

As he was saying each subject, he placed an extremely thick book in her arms, equaling a total of five heavy textbooks. Kagome looked in shock at Mr. Tallis, a wave of angry and maybe not very appropriate words quickly forming in her throat. Just as she opened her mouth, though, Mr. Tallis held up his hand as if anticipation of her outburst and said,"Now, before you go and say something you might regret, you should know you should be thanking me..." Kagome, though, didn't hear the rest of what would have been a completely pratronizing speech, because at that moment, Ms. Mollin came in and grasped Kagome's hand, pulling her back upstairs. "Miss Halding, We 'ave to begin your new studies!" Kagome looked back, helplessly at Mrs. Holm, who just shrugged. With a scowl, she turned to Mr. Tallis. His stare was steady, and completely cold. What was wrong with this guy?

Still, she couldn't resist looking at those breath taking golden eyes. As she was dragged upstairs by Ms. Mollin, her hand began to itch for a pencil. Kagome pried her hand from Ms. Mollin's and ran past her to her room. Locking the door, she hurried to her desk and grabbed her notebook and pencil.

Nothing could distract Kagome when she had that pencil in her hand; she was completely lost to her drawings. She touched the tip of her pencil to the piece of parchment very carefully, but was soon she was making fast strokes. Her dark pencil strokes soon began to take shape, but Kagome wasn't sure what she was drawing, she just knew she had to draw. After about an hour of Ms. Mollin yelling at her to come out, and about half of an hour of Mrs. Holm knocking furiously at her door, she was ready to find out what it was that she had needed to draw so badly. As she looked down at the parchment, her eyes widened considerably. Just at that moment, her door was broken down and there was Mr. Tallis, whose eyes also widened considerably when they landed on her finished drawing. Kagome ran at Mr. Tallis, pusing him out of her room, crying, "Get out of my room! What kind of man are you? This is hardly respectable!"

At hearing this, Mr. Tallis blushed, and lost no time in getting out of her room. It would have made Kagome laugh under different circumstances. But right now she looked back at her drawing. It was a perfect portrait of Mr. Inuyasha Tallis. In the drawing, he was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase, his hand under his chin as if thinking, and his eyes, oh, his eyes. They were filled with sadness for some reason, though this did not make them any less beautiful, Kagome realized with a blush. _Oh, what am I to do now? He must think I'm mad! I probably am,_ Kagome thought. She would never be able to show her face in her own house again.

The next day, however, Kagome found out that her Music lessons would be given to her by none other than Inuyasha himself. _Mr. Tallis, _she corrected herself with an eye roll. She proceeded to her doom in the music room at 8:47 in the morning. She reached the room and was about to open the door, when she heard someone playing the piano. Now, Kagome didn't know much about music, but the piece she was hearing was very beautiful. She listened a few more minutes until she got the courage to peek through the door. As soon as she opened the door a tiny crack, though, the music stopped abrubtly.

"Miss Halding, stop peeking through the door and come begin your lesson. You are already late." came a voice laced with coldness.

Kagome sheepishly walked in the room and sat down.

The rest of the lesson was utterly boring. Mr. Tallis said not one word about her drawing and she was starting to get anxious. Did he decide to forget her portrait? To never talk about it again? Well, he would be reasonable to do so. By the end of the lesson she had forgotten all about too. Untill Mr. Tallis brought it up as she was heading out the door.

"Mrs. Holm says that you are artisticly talented, and," he cleared his throat,"by seeing your work yesterday, I have decided to place you in art lessons. Your talent will be put to good use."

Kagome couldn't believe her ears. _Art lessons?_ What kind of Nazi was he? No way would she attend art lessons. And she made a point of telling him so.

"Are you crazy or just mentally impaired? It was bad enough with all the extra studies you so _generously _made me take. Now art lessons? There's not a chance in hell."

At this Inuyasha's eyes widened his face now showed a look of shock, which turned, very quickly, to a look of anger.

"How dare you use such language! Especially from a lady! You will take these art lessons or you can move out," he said very strictly, for he did not approve of raising his voice to a woman.

Kagome's eyes filled with tears and when she realized that she was crying, she ran out of the room. She didn't want him to see her cry.


End file.
